In less than one month (Wednesday 7 August) the men’s and women’s beach handball competitions of The World Games 2025 will get underway in Chengdu, People’s Republic of China.

On Monday, 7 July, the draws were made for the preliminary groups at the International Handball Federation (IHF) headquarters in Basel, Switzerland.

The men’s and women’s competitions both start with the preliminary group stage. Two groups of four teams each – group A and group B – will play each once in their preliminary group.

All eight teams in each competition then move directly into the quarter-finals, where the top team in preliminary group A and B play the bottom team in group B and A respectively, while second plays third in each.

IHF.info spoke to those involved with the teams as they prepare for the global sporting event in Asia next month.

“Only top-class players” – women’s draw provides diverse group featuring three continents

Group A: Vietnam, Spain, Germany, Denmark

Ngoc Trinh, Player – Vietnam women:
“The draw is really exciting. We’ve been placed in a strong group with some top-class teams, which is a great challenge. Every team has its strengths and I’m looking forward to facing them all. This is a great opportunity to test ourselves and show what we’re capable of on the international stage.

“My goal for Chengdu 2025 is to give my absolute best and represent my country with pride. Of course, winning a medal would be incredible, but more than that, I want to enjoy the experience, compete with heart, and make lasting memories with my team and fellow athletes from around the world.”

Juan Pablo Morillo, Head Coach – Spain women: 
“There’s no doubt that we’re in the toughest group, with very strong opponents, which is a challenge for us because we’ll have to play at our best if we want to compete for the medals.

“Our goal? The World Games are one of the main objectives we’ve set for this year, and once there, the priority will be to try to be in the fight for the medals.”

Alexander Novakovic, Head Coach – Germany women:
“The World Games 2025, with their modified qualifying format, are certainly the strongest tournament in the last 20 years – the preliminary group shows only top-class players.

“Spain are certainly the strongest opponent with and form and nuances will decide the day. Denmark is also expected to be very strong; their matches in recent years have always been extremely close, often ending in shoot-outs. Vietnam are not a big unknown, but as Asian champions, with a different playing philosophy, they are also interesting.

“We have to prepare well and approach each game as a knockout game. For spectators and fans, the tournament will certainly be extremely interesting and exciting from game one.”

Group B: Croatia, Portugal, Argentina, People’s Republic of China

Lara Miholic, Player – Croatia women:
“The draw has placed us in a challenging and exciting group. Argentina are one of the strongest teams in the world and current world championship runners-up. They are a fast and well-organised team with high-quality players in every position.

“Portugal are a team that keeps improving year-after-year. They play a modern and dynamic style of beach handball and are coming into the tournament with big ambitions. China proved at the last world championship that they rightfully belong among the top teams. Their progress is clear, and playing in front of a home crowd will give them additional motivation and strength.

“We know we have a tough job ahead of us, but there’s a positive atmosphere within the team and our goals are clearly set. We have high expectations and want to prove that we belong at the very top of beach handball. Our preparations have gone well – we’ve trained hard and we’re ready to give everything we have for the Croatian jersey.

“The team traveling to China has been playing together for many years, which gives us extra strength and stability. Every player has experience from major international competitions and knows how to perform under pressure. We believe in our game, we believe in each other, and we can’t wait for it to begin.”

Leticia Brunati, Head Coach – Argentina women:
“Both preliminary groups are very difficult. We'll play against Croatia, Portugal and China in almost the same group that we played in at the last world championship (Editor’s note: Argentina were in the main round group at China 2024 with all three sides).

“All we know right now is that the most important game is the quarter-final. We'll try to get in shape for that in the preliminary group because it is winter here in Argentina and we aren't playing beach handball currently.

“All of our force will be focused on trying to reach the semi-finals, but we know that is really hard in The World Games because there are five European teams. They are all are playing in the European Championship right now, so they are going to be at a good level when they get to Chengdu. But, as usual, we will do our best to leave Argentina as high and as ready as possible.”

“A really, really tough group” – men’s group A features three of world’s top four sides

Group A: Brazil, Germany, Croatia, Portugal

Marten Franke, Head Coach – Germany men:
“It's a really, really tough group, but that's why we are at The World Games – we are competing with the best teams in the world.

“We are lucky to have such a really high level, competitive group, with The World Games and World Championship champions Croatia, world championship bronze medallists Portugal, and us, who finished fourth, plus Brazil, who are a top world championship and The World Games winner over the last 20 years.

“With every win in the preliminary round, we have a chance to get a better position for a good quarter-final spot, so we will try our best, but from the perspective of the other preliminary group, it's nearly not so important which place you finish in the preliminary group because you will face one of the top teams in the world in the quarter-finals. It will be very interesting to see what will happen there.

“For us, we hope to have our best team possible, but, of course, our concentration at the moment is on the European Championship. However, from next week, we will put our full focus on The World Games. It is a big honour to compete at The World Games Chengdu 2025 and as the first German men’s team since 2005. We are really looking forward to having a great competition there.”

Group B: Tunisia, Spain, Denmark, People’s Republic of China

Mohamed Taboubi, Head Coach – Tunisia men:
“It’s a strong group, but we know them well; we played against each of them recently; Spain at stage 1 of the 2025 IHF Beach Handball Global Tour, China at the 2024 IHF Men’s Beach Handball World Championship and Denmark in Tunisia at a training camp in April 2024.

“But our team has changed, with more than seven players named for The World Games not at the 2024 IHF Men’s Beach Handball World Championship. Five of them were born in 2008 so our goal is to help these young players gain experience at a high level.

“After The World Games, our next big goal is to defend our African Beach Handball title in August.”

Juan Antonio Vázquez, Head Coach – Spain men: 
“The truth is that we didn’t get the best possible draw; China and Tunisia don’t have the level of some of the European teams, so the quarter-final matchup is expected to be very dangerous.

“The level is very high in the men’s competition; the battle to reach the medals comes at a high cost so our goal is to try to make it to the semi-finals and, from there, give our very best.”

Martin Vilstrup Jr Andersen, Player – Denmark men:
“We face hosts China who we have never met, and then Tunisia who we have played against a couple of times, but Spain we know well. It’s always tough against Spain, so we're looking forward to it, and hope that we can get into a flow that can help us achieve our goals.

“We would have liked to have been in group A; that was what we were hoping for – to get the toughest preliminary group as possible. Now, we face an incredibly tough quarter-final against The World Games record-breaking champions Brazil, or Portugal, who won bronze at the 2024 IHF World Championship, or Germany who came fourth, or the world champions Croatia.

“Group A has the potential to get an easier quarter-final opponent – on paper –  than us, but we're looking forward to the challenge.

“We believe in ourselves and believe we can be competitive against the best teams in the world. This is our first The World Games ever with the Danish national team and we want to achieve something. We have the level to do something. 

“Our goal is to go to Chengdu and get a medal and we are looking forward to the challenge – and it’s going to be a huge challenge.”

Mario Bernardes, National Beach Handball Co-ordinator – Portuguese Handball Federation (speaking on behalf of both Portugal’s men’s and women’s teams):
“Both of our teams are making their The World Games debut and everyone who has the privilege of representing Portugal at Chengdu 2025 has a deep feeling of honour and strong sense of responsibility.

“Every moment we have experienced and will experience along this journey is guided by an unwavering commitment to excellence and collective dedication.

“Both of our teams are placed amongst strong national teams, but we have full confidence in the work we’ve been doing, in the dedication of our athletes, and in the spirit of unity that defines our teams.”

For more information about how the teams qualified, visit HERE. https://www.ihf.info/media-center/news/world-games-draw-information-and-team-qualification-update 

About The World Games
The World Games is a multi-sport event staged every four years by the IWGA, organised with the support of the International Olympic Committee.
 
Chengdu 2025 will be the 12th edition of The World Games, the most recent being held in Birmingham, USA, last July, with 3,600 athletes from 34 sports and 100 countries taking part.

Beach handball has been part of The World Games since it was introduced as a demonstration/invitational sport in Japan in 2001. It followed in Germany (2005) and Chinese Taipei (2009), before becoming a full sport at the 2013 edition in Colombia and then continuing in Poland (2017), before the USA (2022), where Croatia (men) and Germany (women) won the beach handball titles.

The 12th edition of The World Games will take place from 7 to 17 August 2025 in Chengdu, People’s Republic of China with Beach Handball one of over 30 sporting disciplines on the event programme. 

For further information, visit www.theworldgames.org.